CS Government has money for free transport, debts, rents but not enough for young people who chose to live in Sarajevo

Written by: Amra Vrabac

The Government of Sarajevo Canton has found itself in a major problem regarding the payment of subsidies to young people for solving their housing issues. Given that a large number of young people applied to the public call, and the call covered a period of 15 months, 1,142 of them met the criteria, while the budget for subsidies remained the same.

Thus, 5.5 million KM will be enough for only 4,800 KM per applicant, which is the lowest amount in the last six years since the Sarajevo Canton has been conducting such a public call.
To make matters worse, instead of offering a sensible explanation, the Minister of Public Utilities Bojan Bošnjak, who was appointed to that position at the request of Our Party in mid-November, even announced the reduction of this program at yesterday's session. In free translation, one could say its abolition.

Given that the public call stipulated the condition that applicants must prove residence in the CS for the next five years, this action by the CS Government is already making young people consider leaving Sarajevo and departing from BiH.

A group of applicants sent a protest letter on Friday to CS Prime Minister Nihad Uk and Minister Bošnjak, demanding that they fulfill the promise of subsidies of 10 to 12 thousand KM. They stated that they are discriminated against compared to previous winners, and that this is a message from the authorities that they are not welcome in Sarajevo Canton.

The CS Assembly adopted a budget for 2024 worth 1.5 billion KM. New subsidies have already been announced, and as Prime Minister Uk said, subsidies for rents for young married couples are planned. Instead of providing additional funds to correct the injustice towards these 1,142 young people, the CS Government, led by Uk, opted for new subsidies.
The CS Government has increased subsidies for companies in the public utilities sector, will pay subsidies for free night transport, repay other people's debts, but did not even consider finding funds to equalize the subsidy for young people for purchasing real estate compared to previous years.

After the adoption of the Budget, Uk stated, among other things, that the continuation of housing care for young people is planned, along with an upcoming analysis of actual needs, in order to avoid problems in the implementation of such projects. So, the Prime Minister is aware of the problem but offered no solution. At the same time, in the adopted Budget for 2024, only 500,000 KM is allocated for subsidies for young people for solving housing issues!

Although this year it was disputed whether all applicants should have received the subsidy because they are of "good property status", this would be a new form of discrimination because this is not a public call for social categories but for young people.

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Youth, Adna Mesihović, did not stand up to protect these young people who are clearly discriminated against, even though it was her duty by function. However, it is obvious that politics had the final say in this case.

The CS Government could have found a solution and paid out 7,000 KM each, as was paid in 2020, which was marked by the coronavirus and reduced revenue inflow due to the lockdown, and found an additional 2.5 million KM through allocation in the Budget for 2024, if that was not possible this year. They could have decided to pay them the money in two installments.

The upcoming election year could be inglorious for the current CS Government if protests by young people, education workers, health workers follow, but also for the trio that is falling apart in municipal councils as local elections approach.